This invention concerns gaging and more particularly gaging of female and male circular features such as bores, bosses and the like, which gaging of the diameter as well as axis position is required. Diameter gaging of bores is commonly done with insert plugs of various size which detect undersize or oversize conditions to determine the axis of bores. Axis positon is commonly achieved by an arrangement in which a rotatable mandrel is positioned in the bore and rotated in order to determine if the axis of rotation of the mandrel is in the location of the correct location of the bore axis within tolerance limits.
A further approach to such gaging problem has involved placing a probe rotated within the interior of the bore or in contact with the exterior of the rounded features such as a boss or shaft. By the use of electrical transducers, such as LVDT's, electronic signals may be generated and processed to determine the various gaging information necessary to generate a "reject" or "accept" gaging signal indication.
In these various approaches, the precision of fit of the various mechanical parts, such as bearings, is critical in reliably obtaining accurate results.
In many applications, a number of such features such as bores, shafts, bosses, etc., may be required to be gaged on a single workpiece and in these cases the fixturing becomes relatively elaborate requiring relatively costly gaging set-ups and a timeconsuming gaging process. This is particularly true if each gaged feature must be gaged separately for inside and outside diameter and also for axis position and alignment.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for gaging circularly shaped features such as bores, bosses, hubs, and the like, in which the gaging apparatus is substantially simplified.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such method and apparatus in which precision bearing and other mechanical components are not required in order to reliably and precisely gage inside and outside diameters, as well as axis alignment and positioning.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such method and apparatus in which a number of gage parameters may be simultaneously obtained with a single gaging step.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and apparatus for gaging in which a number of features may be so gaged simultaneously during a single gaging process.